1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an enclosed conveyor and particularly to a conveyor wherein troughed belt support idler rollers are suspended within a generally unobstructed elongated tubular housing.
2. State of the Art
In conventional troughed conveyors, an endless conveyor belt is trained about head and tail pulleys mounted at opposite ends of the conveyor. The working run of the belt is supported by idlers centrally mounted on a transverse floor member that divides the housing into upper and lower chambers while the return run is supported on idler rollers located in the lower compartment. In such prior structures, the transverse floor is required for structural strength. However, such floors are difficult to install and their use substantially increases the weight of the conveyor thus increasing its cost and also limiting its use to those instances where the conveyor can be ground-supported at closely spaced intervals. Moreover, the floor is a continuous member running the length of the conveyor thus requiring that the entire conveyor be custom built.